Is it fair to charge inmates $5 a day for their stay in jail?

I thought this was one of the best ideas Hodgson ever had, how it can not be constitutional is beyond me. Where in the constitution does it say after you commit a crime, the government must support you every day with no contribution.

Pretty absurd idea really. You want to charge people, whom are already on hard times. How are they going to pay the fee?
How about instead of finding creative ways to punish people more, we put more emphasis on preventing crime, and keeping people out of jail.
Charging people in jail to be in jail is only going to increase the recidivism rate.

It certainly doesn't seem unreasonable that they pay this minimal fee. It is the least they can do, especially if they have money in their account to buy candy, cakes and other goodies. And, as the article said, if they don't have the money then they are billed for it. If they stay out of trouble the bill is forgiven. Some of the people that they have hurt or robbed don't get their things back, or their health back. You would think that if an inmate was truly sorry for what he/she did, they would welcome the opportunity to show they are willing to now be contributing members of society and make a nominal contribution towards their care, housing and custody.
As for the family members who feel that they must send these inmates canteen money for all of these goodies, well shame on you. It was probably your enabling them and babying them that contributed to their present situation. It's about time that you let them take responsibility for their actions. Heck, even kids who do wrong, lose their allowances and can't get candy, cake or goodies when they are bad.
With the economy the way it is and all of us being asked and required to pay more in taxes and fees, with many of us and our families having to give up more and go without more, the least that an inmate can do is pay $5.00 per day as a good faith payment, to show they are assuming some responsibility for themselves. Let's hope that the courts recognize and realize that this is the right thing to do, for the system, for the taxpayers and for the inmates themselves.

It certainly doesn't seem unreasonable that they pay this minimal fee. It is the least they can do, especially if they have money in their account to buy candy, cakes and other goodies. And, as the article said, if they don't have the money then they are billed for it. If they stay out of trouble the bill is forgiven. Some of the people that they have hurt or robbed don't get their things back, or their health back. You would think that if an inmate was truly sorry for what he/she did, they would welcome the opportunity to show they are willing to now be contributing members of society and make a nominal contribution towards their care, housing and custody.
As for the family members who feel that they must send these inmates canteen money for all of these goodies, well shame on you. It was probably your enabling them and babying them that contributed to their present situation. It's about time that you let them take responsibility for their actions. Heck, even kids who do wrong, lose their allowances and can't get candy, cake or goodies when they are bad.
With the economy the way it is and all of us being asked and required to pay more in taxes and fees, with many of us and our families having to give up more and go without more, the least that an inmate can do is pay $5.00 per day as a good faith payment, to show they are assuming some responsibility for themselves. Let's hope that the courts recognize and realize that this is the right thing to do, for the system, for the taxpayers and for the inmates themselves.

Yeah lets charge people 5 dollars a day for a place they dont want to be in. Thats like rent for 2 people in a 500 dollar apartment a month. Why dont you have them do some community service or something, dont they have jobs to do in prison? Who made up this rule? You should be ashamed of yourself its only going to make it harder for them to get their stuff together when they get out. Im sure being in jail is punishment enough.

Tom, these are the people that CAUSE hard times. Make them pay.